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Petite, fiery, and altogether confident, Holly Hunter was an Academy Award-winning actress and producer who rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a string of roles in challenging and critically acclaimed films. After a series of supporting roles, Hunter had her first starring role in the Coen Brothers' comedy "Raising Arizona" (1987), and that same year, she also earned an Oscar nod for her performance in "Broadcast News" (1987). Following an Emmy-winning turn as a fictionalized Jane Roe in "Roe v. Wade" (NBC, 1989), Hunter earned the biggest accolades of her career - as well as a Best Actress Oscar - for her renowned performance as a mute pianist in "The Piano" (1993). From there, she delivered quality supporting and leading turns in "The Firm" (1993), "A Life Less Ordinary" (1997), "Crash" (1997) and "Jesus' Son" (1999). In the new millennium, Hunter was exemplary as a frustrated mother in "Thirteen" (2003) and enjoyed voicing Elastigirl in the Pixar hit "The Incredibles" (2004). She stepped away from the big screen to star in the short-lived, but critically acclaimed cable series "Saving Grace" (TNT, 2007-2010), proving that her extraordinary talents could make the successful transition to the small screen.Born in Conyers, GA on March 20, 1958, Hunter was one of seven children raised on a 250-acre farm by her parents. After she first shone onstage as Helen Keller in a fifth grade production of "The Miracle Worker," her family encouraged her to pursue performing as a career. In 1976, she went to Carnegie Mellon to pursue a degree in drama, and after graduating in 1980, she moved to New York to put her schooling to the test. A chance encounter with playwright Beth Henley (in a stalled elevator) led to Hunter becoming Henley's muse in several acclaimed productions, including "Crimes of the Heart" and "The Miss Firecracker Contest." Aspiring filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen saw her in the former play and wrote a part for her in their upcoming debut, a modern noir called "Blood Simple" (1984), but due to commitments with another play, she was forced to turn them down. Hunter then recommended her roommate, Frances McDormand, to the brothers, who cast her as the female lead, tapping Hunter to provide a voice on an answering machine in the film. McDormand later married Joel Coen in 1984, and the new couple, along with Ethan Coen and Sam Raimi of "Spider-Man" (2002) fame, all lived together in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles when Hunter moved there in 1981.That same year, Hunter landed her first onscreen role in a particularly violent slasher film produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein called "The Burning." She marked time in a string of unremarkable TV movies until her star-making role in the Coen Brothers' "Raising Arizona" arrived in 1987. As a tender-hearted police officer whose inability to have a child forces her and her jailbird husband (Nicolas Cage) to kidnap a baby from a wealthy furniture salesmen, Hunter showed an uncommon knack for verbal and physical comedy. Hunter charmed audiences and critics alike, leaving directors queued up to tap her apparently unlimited talent. Hunter next wowed audiences in "Broadcast News" (1987), director James L. Brooks' tribute to the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. Hunter brought smarts and sensuality to her turn as an overachieving news reporter, and critics responded by nominating her for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.Hunter essayed more take-charge women with romantic flaws in her next projects, which included "Always" (1989), Steven Spielberg's treacle-heavy remake of "A Guy Named Joe" (1943); and 1993's "Once Around." She also returned to Henley's "Miss Firecracker" in a little-seen film adaptation in 1989, and took a serious turn in "Roe vs. Wade," a 1989 TV movie that earned her an Emmy nomination for her performance as the woman whose inability to have an abortion due to state law created the landmark legal case. The year 1993 proved a high mark for